La Crosse Technology Weather Pro Center - WS-2810U

This thing is almost too easy to set up. From past experience, I expected more of a challenge, but basically, you just insert the supplied batteries to each sensor, remove the protective shield from the solar cell and you are in business. Put the batteries (batteries are included) into the main unit, and it should pick up the signals automatically. If it doesn't, or if you lose a signal, you can refresh the link from the individual units to the main display by pushing and holding down the "UP" button on main display. Once you have the weather station set up, you can go to their site to download software from La Crosse that allows all weather data to be logged and tracked over time. This is optional, but could be useful to help maintain the accuracy of the clock on the main display since it is updated from your PC clock. If you use the software, when you run the program it will tell you to refresh the link from the main station to the software. This link between your computer and the main weather station unit is achieved via a wireless transmitter that inserts into a USB port on your computer. To refresh the signals between the computer and main display, push and hold the "DOWN" button and click refresh on computer program setup screen. The display unit will find the computer, and you are in business. Note, if you shut down your computer, you will have to do a "refresh" to restart the link from computer if you are in a hurry, or just open the program and wait. The program will re-synch automatically when it next sends logged data to the computer. The main display and the computer program display have the following things included: Time display in 12/24 hour time format Automatic time and date (PC time) update from USB transceiver if connected Calendar display (date, month, year) Weather forecast with 3 weather icons (sunny, cloudy, and rainy) with weather tendency indicator Temperature display in °F/°C Humidity display in RH% Dew point display in °F/°C Wind chill display in °F / °C MIN/MAX values of indoor/outdoor temperature Indoor/outdoor humidity and Dew point display Time and date of recording Relative air pressure reading in inHg/hPa, 24h/72h history graph Selectable Wind speed displayed in mph, km/h, m/s, knots, and Beaufort scale Wind speed & direction with LCD compass display MAX records for wind gust with time & date of recording Rainfall display in inch/mm and Rainfall data for total rain, last hour, last 24h, last week, and last month Weather alarm modes: temperature, humidity, wind gust, wind direction, air pressure, 24h rain and storm warning with Buzzer on/off select, LCD contrast setting, Storage of 1750 sets of weather records with user selectable recording interval from 1 minute to 24 hours On the main station display you have the following buttons. They are multi-functioning as noted: Push "Set" to toggle between outside dew point and humidity. Push and Hold "Set" to toggle manual setup and manual time adjust (if you are not using the computer program). Push the up arrow to toggle between time and date modes, or to show PC Synch status. Push and hold up arrow to do manual re-synch of station to sensors. Push down arrow to toggle rain totals for last two hours, last 24 hours, last day, last week, last month and current year. Push and hold down arrow to do manual re-synch of computer and station. There is an alarm button to set buzzer alarm for pre-set values. There is a Min-Max button to toggle through all the minimum and maximum values by date and time. All of these functions are duplicated on the computer program. There are a lot of wireless links in the use of this station. You have one from the computer to the main unit. You have one from the main unit to the sensor for outside temperature and humidity. Then there are separate links from the wind sensor and the rain sensor that go to the outside temperature and humidity unit. This is my understanding of it anyway. This may impact how you place the sensor units. In theory, it could add effective distance to the rain and wind sensors since each step can be up to 200 feet (unobstructed), but in use it still is best to have all units as close to the main indoors display as possible, since transmission can be impacted by the walls of your house and other obstacles. The one problem I encountered in my installation was due to that issue. I planned to install the wind and rain sensors in my back yard on the south exposure. The manual suggests that it is best for the temperature/humidity sensor to be installed on the north side of the house where it can be shielded from direct exposure to rain and sun. The problem I had was because this arrangement leads to too many obstructions, and I started to lose various displays due to the blockage of signals. I had to build a small enclosure for the temperature/humidity sensor on the same side of the house as the rest of the sensors. Now everything is fine. A possible problem I see down the line would be due to the inevitable breakdown of plastic with direct exposure to the sun. These things need to be exposed to the weather to work accurately, but it is also the one thing that will lead to problems. But, in the past I have had one weather station that had zero break-down on the exposed plastic due to exposure to the sun, and one that lasted for around 10 years. I am not expecting problems here. Another potential problem is that the battery life of all but the wind sensor is unknown. The wind sensor battery should recharge from its supplied solar cell. But the other sensors have standard batteries and will need periodic replacement. This will require removal of the rain sensor from whatever you have it mounted on, since the battery access is on the bottom of the unit. There is slightly easier access to the temperature/humidity sensor, but ease of the battery change will depend on how and where you have it mounted. I have contacted customer service through their website due to the minor problem I had in the set up, as mentioned above. I had a response within 24 hours, including the "fix" and other related information I had not asked for, but which I am saving in case I need it later. As it turned out, I figured out that my problem was caused by too many obstructions to the signal before they responded. But, they did respond and the response had the correct solution in it. Since the Weather History Software is described below, I have had one recurring problem related to the logging of data only. Say for example that you have the software set to log your station data once per hour. You should be seeing the data logged one time per hour and only after the current time hits the current hour. As I write the review it is 4:30 PM and the unit is displaying data as if it were 5:00 PM. It is still before 6:00 PM as I write this, and the log suggests that it has data through 6:00, and what has been logged for the last few hours appears to be two sets of duplicate values. I tried a few various changes to settings to see if I could stop the behavior, but it does it no matter what I change. I notified Customer service about this and I just received this response: "Regarding Model Number: WS-2810U-IT Yes, there have been occasional instances of "spikes" of duplicate entries. The Data tab can be edited to delete the unwanted lines. To delete highlight the line or lines you with to delete and select the delete button (red x)." I agree, it is not much of a response, and I guess it is just one of those things. Of course, I had already determined you can just delete the duplicates, but if you miss them, you are left without the real value for that hour and duplicated values for the other hour if you miss the time to delete it. It would be one thing if it wrote over the duplicated values when it really reached that time, but it does not. You are left with a duplicate value and you lose the values that should have been on that hour. I only use the software to see the data in the computer room, and to update the clock on the main unit screen, so this is not an important feature for me. If it is for you, be aware of this potential problem. Weather history PC software Notes: The software stores collected weather data, creates graphs, synchronizes time/date, updates user settings and sets weather alarms. It works with Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 Wireless USB transceiver: USB transceiver plugs into your PC to transfer collected weather data from your weather display with your PC Wireless rain sensor: Self-emptying bucket Transmission range: over 200 feet unobstructed Wireless solar-powered wind sensor - 100% solar-powered with built-in rechargeable power cell and efficient solar panel. Transmission range: over 200 feet unobstructed Wireless thermo-hygro sensor: Transmission of temperature and humidity data with transmission range: over 200 feet unobstructed Other Specifications: Indoor temperature range: -40°F to +139.8°F Outdoor temperature range: -40°F to +139.8°F Indoor humidity range: 1% to 99% Outdoor humidity range: 1% to 99% Wind speed / gust: 0 to 111.8 mph Wind chill: -40°F to +139.8°F Rainfall: 0" to 393.7" Power requirements: (Batteries Included) Receiver: 3 "C" Alkaline Batteries Thermo-hygro sensor: 2 "C" Alkaline Batteries Rain sensor: 2 "AA" Alkaline Batteries Wind sensor: Solar powered with internal battery for sunless periods Issues of note: In use this can at times drop the display for a while. this is especially true during rainy weather and this could be related to physical barriers blocking the signal in my setting. One more issue that has popped up is that the rain gauge part drops on occasion, and tends to be less than accurate over time.